Cleaning up
by MadFox32
Summary: When Apollo and Phoenix leave Athena and Trucy alone at the agency, they end up cleaning out some closets, both literally and figuratively. Oneshot, one of my favorite stories I've written.


This is just a cute little story I threw together, and possibly the best story I've ever written. I hope you guys like it!

(O)

Apollo, Phoenix, and a young woman walked out the door of the office, leaving Athena alone. She had heard something about the woman's father being accused of murder, and Phoenix and Apollo had taken the case, the first one they had taken as a pair. Athena knew that they needed to do a case together once in a while, but she couldn't help but wish that she was with them.

"Hey, wait a sec! I've got the whole day to myself! I shouldn't sit around moping like a sad little puppy!" Widget lit up a bright green as Athena talked to herself. "Or Apollo," she laughed. She wondered what she could do to entertain herself. There had to be _**something **_she could do. How else did Apollo and Phoenix spend the whole day alone while she was off investigating?

_Well, when Apollo wasn't taking a case… He normally had injured himself. I'd rather not do that. Mr. Wright… Oh, right. He just snooped on us, and babbled cryptic clues about what we should do. Darn it. _

Athena walked around the office, sitting at her desk. It was spotless. Not even a single paper was in her tray. She looked over at Apollo's desk. _Is that even a desk? It just looks like a recycling bin for a bunch of paper. _Athena found her sorting Apollo's papers for him. She knew just how stressed he got during a hard case, and she wanted to do what she could to help. It wasn't long before she could see her reflection looking back at her in the shine of the wood, and she smiled. Looking at Mr. Wright's desk, she decided to do the same.

Athena loved it when things were clean. She had read somewhere that a lot of crimes happened in dirty places, like subways. Now, she wasn't quite expecting Apollo to come at her with a knife if the room was dirty, but she knew lots about the psychological effects of cleanliness, and she knew it would brighten the mood of the office a bit. After her boss' desk was clean, she looked at Trucy's collection of magic items. _How am I supposed to clean up these? _

She decided that her best bet was probably to start with the non-magic items. She looked at a trophy on top of a weird magic box. _Why is there a hat on top of a trophy?! _She picked it up, and it said _**PaPa **_on it. _Is this Mr. Wright's? _She couldn't see the well-dressed attorney as one to wear beanies. She plucked it off the trophy, which seemed to be a kind of magic award. She placed it on the couch, which also had a red vest draped over it, which she assumed was Apollo's. She folded both clothing items, stacking them neatly on the couch. She pulled the books off the coffee table, and shoved them into cracks in the bookshelf. She found a half-full grape juice bottle, and moved it to a mini-fridge that Mr. Wright had insisted on getting. Before long, the room almost resembled a law office.

The magic items, however, remained scattered throughout the room. She picked up a plate of plastic spaghetti. _This isn't even magic. Trucy couldn't fool a kindergartener with this. _She picked it up by the fork, which was supposed to look like it was levitating in the air. There was a large stack of books under it, which she attempted to move. _These things weigh more than me! _She picked up one book at a time, and moved it to the bookshelf with a lot of effort. She looked at her watch. _Huh, 3:34. I've been cleaning for a few hours now. _

_All right, I've officially cleaned up everything without some kind of magic purpose. Now what? I doubt Trucy would want me to shove all of this in a closet somewhere. _She remembered that Trucy would be getting home from school soon, and grinned at the thought of being able to spend the rest of the day with a living, breathing human being. She sat on the couch, admiring her work. Ok, the room was still a mess, but you could at least walk in it. She found herself looking at a picture on the wall. _Who is that? He's wearing a magician's hat. Is Trucy a fan of him or something? _She was curious about the man, having the feeling that she'd seen him before somewhere.

"Daddy, I'm home!" A little magician walked through the door, a backpack on her shoulders.

"Mr. Wright and Apollo are out investigating. And this isn't really where you live, is it?"

"No, but it's home enough for me!" Trucy smiled brightly.

"So, how are you? Did you have a good day at school?"

"Yeah." _Wait… Is that discord? _Athena decided not to press the matter.

"So, it's just you and me for the day. What do you want to do?"

"Oh, I should probably do my homework." Trucy smiled, but there was something in her voice that chilled Athena. _What's up with her?_

"It's good that you're putting a lot of work into school. I bet Mr. Wright's really proud of you," she said, carefully, sitting next to Trucy on the couch.

"Yeah." She unzipped her backpack, plopping it down on the now-clean table. "Did you clean up the office?"

"Yeah, it took me forever. I wasn't quite sure what to do with your magic stuff, though."

"Oh… Sorry about that. I spend most of my time around here, but law offices don't have much space for my stuff."

"So, what do you have to do for homework?"

"Uh… I have a math worksheet, a PESS worksheet, which is basically just another math worksheet, and I've got some reading to do." As soon as she said the word "reading", Athena felt overwhelmed by discord. _What's wrong with reading? There were enough magic books lying half-open on the floor that I assumed she liked it._

"Do you want something to eat while you work?"

"I'm not very hungry. Can we listen to music, though?"

"Sure! Music's great for the heart!" Athena grinned, flashing a peace sign. She had to wonder why the girl wasn't hungry, though. She ate more than everyone else in the office combined. "Do you have an I-pod or something?"

"Yeah, it's probably by the candles next to daddy's picture."

"Daddy? This doesn't look like Mr. Wright!"

"Oh, that's my other Daddy." _Wait… Mr. Wright isn't… that way, is he? Well, it would make sense why he adopted Trucy…_

"Two daddies?"

"Yeah. That one's my real daddy. He and my real mommy are dead, though." _And Mr. Wright is now back to being straight. _She could feel a great amount in Trucy's heart when she mentioned her dead parents.

"You miss him, don't you?"

"I have a new daddy now. I'm fine."

"Trucy… Don't make me take out Widget on you. I know that you miss him."

"It's been eight years since I last saw him! Why would I still miss him?"

"I still miss my mom, and she died seven years ago. It's ok to feel sad, Trucy."

"I'm not sad!"

Athena tapped Widget, and a screen popped out in front of her. Trucy whined.

"Wow, that's a lot of discord. You seem pretty sad to me."

"I can't be sad."

"Why not?"

"I want to make people happy. I can't do that if I'm sad. Why do you think I'm a magician? Magic makes people happy."

"Trucy, I used to think that, too. But I have Widget. When I'm sad, everyone knows it. But you know what? It makes everyone feel a lot happier when they know that I'm really happy, too. Sure, some people won't be able to tell if you're really happy or not. At the wonder bar, your audience probably all thinks you're the happiest girl in the world. But at the Wright Anything Agency, we know how you're really feeling. Mr. Wright can tell when you're keeping secrets with his little 9 thing, and even if he couldn't, he's your dad, and he knows you better than that. Apollo can tell when you're lying with that bracelet of his, and I've got Widget. We know how you're really feeling, Trucy. And you know what? It would make me happier to see that you trust me with your real feelings than it would to see you being happy. Because I care about you, and so does everyone else here." A tear slipped down Trucy's face, and she seemed scared of it. "It's ok to cry here."

"I feel so lonely." Athena hadn't been paying much attention to Widget anymore, but the screen in front of her shut off automatically, and Athena knew that the discord was gone.

"Lonely?"

"Yeah. I mean, it used to be ok. When my real daddy left, I was a little lonely, but my new daddy helped me. When Polly first came to the office, he took me to court with him, and I helped out on his investigations. I didn't feel lonely at all, then. Except at school. I always got bullied a lot there, because I'm weird and stuff. I never told Daddy, because I was pretty sure that if he got involved, it would get a lot worse. But then, I went to high school. I wasn't allowed to investigate anymore, because I have so much more homework. I especially wasn't allowed to skip school to help Polly do his trials. I've just felt really lonely, I guess. Because when I went to high-school, I was smart enough to do honors classes, but my friends weren't. I never got to see any of my friends, and everyone in the honors classes have little friend groups. There was the popular group, the band group, the nerd group… But I didn't really belong in any of them. The popular group was always really mean, and they were smart, too, because they were honors. I dunno. I guess the only places that I feel welcome are here and the Wonder Bar, but I spend so much of my time here doing homework that I'm always reminded of school."

"When I was in school, I didn't have friends, either. I missed a lot of school, and when I did go, I had to wear weird glasses that made me look like a rabbit. Kids used to make fun of me all the time. I was really shy and quiet, and I hated school."

"So what happened? You aren't shy and quiet now."

"I learned that there were a lot of kids, just like me. Ones that didn't belong. And once you found those people, you felt a lot less lonely. Bullies like to pick on kids who are alone, so once I found a friend, I didn't get picked on as much. A friend like Junie. Since she was sick all the time, we were both picked on a lot and we didn't really have any friends. But once we found each other, it was ok. And then, I moved to Europe. I learned there that I could always find a reason to be happy, even if it was really small. Because it doesn't matter where you go, there's always hope. I had hope that one day, I could save Simon. And you know what? I did. If you look at every situation and try to find the good in it, you can always find a reason to be happy."

"So because my daddy died… I got to meet Daddy, and Polly. And you." Trucy smiled. "I guess there really is some good in that, huh?"

"See? And what about school bullies?"

"Uh… Well, because of them, I stayed away from the kinds of people who would try and get me to do drugs and stuff. I might have learned that my best friend was pregnant or something."

"There you go! And what about English class?"

"Well… Because I'm really scared of Mr. Sparks, I've been motivated to do all my homework, and I've got really good grades." Trucy's jaw dropped, and a hand came up to partially cover her mouth. "Hey! I never told you about English class!" Athena grinned.

"I sensed some fear when you were talking about doing your reading homework." Athena tried not to laugh as Trucy crossed her arms and glared at her cutely.

"Whatever. I'm gonna do my math now." Athena remembered the music that Trucy had asked for earlier, picking up the I-pod that rested next to the dead man's picture. She plugged it into a cheap speaker, and a sweet song filled the room. Trucy grinned and sang along. "Sugar, sugar… What a fleeting melody…" _Woah. She's a really good singer. Since when did a Wright have any kind of musical ability?!_ Athena listened as the song continued, Trucy's voice perfectly blending with the lead singer. A male voice joined in.

"Hey, I recognize that voice from somewhere."

"Oh, that's Prosecutor Gavin." _Oh, he was a singer, wasn't he?_ The song finally ended, and Athena found herself wanting to hear Trucy sing again. Unfortunately, the next song was a rock song, and the sweet voice of the magician didn't join in.

"You're a really good singer, you know."

"Thanks. My real Daddy always told me about how good of a singer my mommy was, so I think I probably got it from her."

"You never told me anything about her."

"Apparently she died in a stage accident, right after I was born. I don't know much about her, really."

"Huh. It would be hard to grow up without a mother."

"I guess. But I've got people like you, don't I?"

(O)

It was about 7:45 when Mr. Wright and Apollo walked through the door.

"What the heck are we going to do tomorrow?!" Apollo groaned.

"Hey girls!" Mr. Wright grinned at Athena and Trucy, who were snuggled up next to each other, reading a book. If he was stressed out by the case, he didn't show it.

"Daddy!" Trucy leaped off the couch, tackling her father with a huge grin on her face. Her arms wrapped around his torso.

"Hey, my desk is clean. Did you do that?" Apollo asked Athena, pointing at what once was a junk heap.

"Yeah, I got kinda bored."

"Thanks. I can actually tell what color it is now." Apollo blushed, ruffling his hair in embarrassment. He was normally a tidy person, but when he had no time, cleaning was impossible.

"Oh! My magic show's gonna start in 20 minutes! You guys should come!" Trucy interrupted.

"I would, but the case-"

"We'd love to, Trucy," Phoenix interrupted, annoying the stressed lawyer.

"But Mr. Wright! We have absolutely no chance of winning the case tomorrow!"

"We've done all we can. Staying up all night worrying won't help our chances. You need to unwind a little." Phoenix nudged Apollo with his elbow.

"I guess," he grumbled.

"Yay!" Trucy grinned, hugging Apollo. "Oh, yeah! I have something to show you. Come here!" Trucy grabbed the protesting attorney by the wrist and dragged him out the door, leaving Athena and Phoenix alone.

"She seems a lot happier than usual. Did you girls have fun?" Phoenix asked.

"Well, yeah, but not at first. She seemed really upset, so I had to use Widget to get her to talk. She's a lot lonelier than she'd lead you to believe."

"Yeah, Poor kid. I may not be able to hear people's hearts, but I think a dad can know how his little girl feels, even without Widget." He smiled sadly. "And my little girl's gone through a lot."

"But even when she feels empty inside, she still puts on a smile for everyone she meets. She's stronger than it seems like she would be."

"That's my daughter for you. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who knows how she really feels," he commented, deep in thought.

"Yeah. Hey, I think we've got a magic show to go to, don't we?"

"Of course. Apollo probably wouldn't be too happy if I forced him to go and didn't go myself," he laughed.

"Allons-y!" Athena flashed a peace sign, grinning. She then turned and bounded out the door energetically. Phoenix glanced around the room before he turned off the lights. _Huh. It's a lot cleaner in here than it was earlier. _He saw his hat lying on the couch, and slipped it on. _I've got to love my two little girls._

Smiling, he turned off the lights and headed out the door.


End file.
